Time: January, 2022
Location: Credential, An Oil Field on the Central Equatorial Pacific Ocean
Abstract：
Malaysia geo-solutions provider HGIS purchased their first uncrewed surface vehicle (USV), the 5.5 m M40P USV developed by OceanAlpha, to complete an entirely remote nearshore inspection of the subsea pipelines in a Field for their project with a Shell’s subordinate company in South East Asia.
01 Background：
Hurricane Geo Inspection Survey Sdn Bhd (HGIS), based in Malaysia, is a leading Geosolutions service provider in the oil and gas industry. In Jan 2019, HGIS secured a 3+2 years contract with Shell’s subordinate company in South East Asia for the provision of offshore survey, positioning & navigation services, expanding its footprints in the region.
As the project covers a wide range of capabilities and solutions from shallow to deep water regions, HGIS decided to purchase their first USV to complete the surveying tasks in some extremely shallow water areas that the traditional survey vessel cannot reach. After careful consideration and comparison, the company finally chose the OceanAlpha M40P USV platform for subsea pipeline investigation.
The Contract Signing between HGIS and Shell
02 Solution：
OceanAlpha M40P USV is delicately designed for operation in offshore oil and gas fields, with significant highlights below:
Good stability: catamaran hull structure reduces swaying and foams;
Long Endurance: powered by electricity while its battery life can be prolonged to over 30 hours by the diesel-electric generator within;
Low noise: the generator can be turned off when surveying to provide a quiet, zero-emission operating environment;
Payload protection: the auto winch developed by OceanAlpha protects instruments’ wet ends and offers greater payload capacity.
The OceanAlpha M40P USV is equipped with an EdgeTech6205 Multi Phase Echo Sounder, which produces real-time, high-resolution, three-dimensional (3D) sea floor maps while providing co-registered simultaneous dual frequency side scan imagery. It is widely used for shallow water hydrographic surveys.
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OceanAlpha M40P USV & EdgeTech6205 Sonar
03 Survey work：
OceanAlpha M40P USV is delicately designed for operation in offshore oil and gas fields, with significant highlights below:
1. High Accuracy
Piloted by the autonomous navigation algorithm, M40P USV can carry out inspection according to the preset route precisely. High-precision positioning and advanced navigation control algorithm minimise the risk of collision.
M40P Sails Precisely according to the Preset Route
2. Good Adaptivity
The M40P unmanned ship has a shallow draught. It can acquire data from areas which are extremely shallow or with complex underwater topography conditions, providing necessary data support for submarine pipeline inspection.
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| Draught Comparison between USV and Traditional Marine Survey Vessel |
HGIS Team Tests the M40P USV in a Shallow Water Area |
3. Easy Integration and Maintenance
M40P platform and payload are designed based on a“ Dual System” for easy integration and maintenance. Therefore, the USV can carry a wide range of equipment to flexibly conduct bathymetry, seabed mapping, and geological hazard inspection.
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The Pipeline Inspection Data and Result Acquired by M40P USV
4. Convenient Operation
Using the base station software developed by OceanAlpha, the surveyor can safely and efficiently complete the inspection task on the shore. Since USV can automatically perform tasks accurately with little human intervention, surveying professionals can devote more energy to analysing data, ensuring higher accuracy of the overall project results.
The Surveyors Performs the Inspection Tasks on the Shore
04 Result：
The pipeline inspection project is still undergoing. As the first unmanned work boat owned by HGIS, M40P lived up to expectations and won praise from customers with dazzling performances.
According to Mr Alexis Wan Ullok, Executive Director of HGIS, “Conducting surveys remotely from shore is a unique and inspiring experience for us. The Introduction of unmanned technology undoubtedly reduces HSSE exposure and survey duration. With less human activity on the sea and cut-downed fuel consumption, it’s a down-to-earth fulfilment of our goal to support sustainable economic development.”
HGIS Surveyor Team with the M40P USV
05 Conclusion：
Safety and efficiency have always been the core pursuit of the oil and gas sectors. Unmanned vessel technologies are essential for the thriving growth of the offshore energy industry. OceanAlpha M40P USV, as a specially developed USV platform, is expected to empower the evolution of the oil and gas industry by digitalizing the workflow and reducing carbon footprints. As a safer, cheaper, and more efficient solution to offshore construction operation and maintenance, USV can relieve humans from arduous, repeating and dangerous routine work on the sea while devoting to carbon, which can drive the industry to enter a new era of intelligence.
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